22 December 2011

Visit Claudia Lefeve to see how the author generally spends her Christmas holiday! Don't forget to click the comment button above to be entered to win a copy of Parallel!

Product Description

Destiny has a way of catching up.

Saddled with powers she doesn't understand, Etta Fleming's world is turned upside-down the day she meets Cooper Everett, the man who transports her to an alternate reality. A reality she was meant to be a part of.

One minute, she's an orphan living at Dominion House for Girls, an institution for delinquent foster kids, then finds herself attending the exclusive Dominion Hall Academy.

Plucked from the only world she's ever known, Etta now has to deal with an aunt she never knew, a boyfriend she doesn't know, and a best friend who can't know.

21 December 2011

On the twelfth day of Christmas...Click HERE to post your comment and be entered to win!

First...We feature author of Out Of The Water, Deniz Bevan...

Out of the Water Deniz Bevan

1

Part One – The Middle Sea

Chapter I – Morning

Palos de la Frontera, Kingdom of Castile, Spain

4 August 1492

She hurtled down the corridor, the slap of footsteps close behind. Her feet turned and her body followed, her thoughts a waterfall of words.

One flight, two flights. Gasping for air, she reached a long corridor lined with high windows. A haze of early morning light gave the stone walls a forbidding aspect, as though they might move inward to trap her. The smell of sizzling garlic led her to the kitchen and a pot bubbling over an open fire. A man in an apron rolled out dough at the table. He was a stranger; not one of the inquisitors who’d

Behind him, a door stood open to the gardens. She grabbed a poker as she skidded past. The man called out, lunging around the table, and she hooked the poker to the pot’s rim and yanked, jumping back before the hot liquid could splash on her. He yelped as broth splattered across his arms. The rolling pin clattered to the floor.

Out through the door and across the herb garden, a crashing and banging coming from behind as the man followed her. She was halfway to the gate when a second man stood up among the mint, a fistful of green leaves in his hand. She caught one glimpse of his gaping mouth and kept running, the strong scent of trampled dill rising up around her.

Flecks of mud flew up against her legs as she ran on and on, towards the forest at the edge of the field, clutching a stitch in her side, not stopping or looking behind. Bursting into the shelter of the branches, she tramped through the undergrowth, slipping and sliding on pine needles, ears pricked to their utmost, straining for the sound of pursuit above her own thrashing and that of a river up ahead. She sprang out of the treeline and crashed into another man.

“¡

“Let me go!” she hissed, and wrenched aside, snagging her sleeve on a branch.

He dropped her arm. “

She could not return, nor cross the river, and this man’s height and broad shoulders blocked the one other direction she could take. Had she run so far, to collapse from hunger at his feet? He was not dressed in the robes of an inquisitor, however.

Get away, get away, get away.removed her from her uncle Aram’s house nor yet de Armas, the officer who’d questioned her last night.Cuidado!” A deep voice cried in her ear. A heavy clasp on her arm pulled her back from a swirl of foamy water.Disculpe me, Señorita.” Excuse me.

For now

“Escaped? Why would –”

“It’s the inquisitors! I can’t stay here.” She made to follow the river.

“Where will you go?” He stepped aside, leaving a space between them, but kept pace with her as she scurried along the track. “Will they not search for you?”

She paused and listened. Crickets chirped in the tall grass; martins twittered as they flew back and forth from the river to the branches above their heads. No pounding of hooves or booted feet. She couldn’t run much further, not without rest, and glanced again at the trees, and at the man in front of her, her legs shaking.

“I won’t hurt you,” the stranger said, when she did not reply. His eyes were dark, but

something gleamed in their depths. “Look, I’ve got food in my satchel.” He slipped the leather strap off his shoulder and held open the flap for her to look inside. There was bread, and a number of objects rolled in cloth.

“What are those?” she asked.

“Brushes, canvas, charcoal. I’m an artist.” He bowed. “My name is Baha.” Dappled sunlight had made shadows of his features; at his smile the shadows fled. “May I ask your name?”

“I’m called Rosa.”

She looked up at his face under the pretence of inspecting the rip in her sleeve. He was clean shaven, but his hair was long, framing his cheeks in dark threads. Not a Castilian, perhaps a

“Pleased to meet you, Señorita Rosa. There’s a clearing on the other side. If you’re hungry, we might stop there a moment and eat.”

She looked back one last time and went with him as he veered off the water’s edge into the trees, willing to believe herself safe. She couldn’t return to Palos on her own, and there seemed no way to reach her guardian, Brother Arcturus, without becoming caught once more. If, indeed, he hadn’t played a role in her capture.

The clearing was there as Baha had said, and she waited as he tugged a blanket out from his satchel. He draped it at the foot of a fig tree, and held out a hand. “Please.”

She lowered herself gingerly onto the furthest edge and tucked her skirts about her. He sat down on the far side and leaned back against the tree trunk with a sigh.

“I usually walk at night and sleep in the afternoons,” he told her, rummaging in his satchel. “But I was abroad early, to see Amiral Colón leave.”

He pulled out a round loaf of bread filled with cheese, and tore it in two, passing her the

larger half. His matter of fact manners were soothing, and the shaking in her limbs subsided enough that she felt more hungry than ever. The inquisitors hadn’t spared any food last night.

“Could you repeat your name, please?” she asked on the final mouthful.

He rose up on one knee and plucked two figs off the tree, laying one on the blanket beside her.

“Baha. It’s an Ottoman name.”

An Ottoman! Whatever was he doing wandering so far from home? She murmured her

thanks and peeled her fig, keeping her eyes averted as he dug in a thumbnail and peeled his own.

It hurt to think of Santiago, especially with her other family still trapped across the field.

She’d evaded pursuit, and had to find a way to save them, but then what? Even if they could find a ship, they had no means of affording passage. She finished off her fig and wiped her hands on the grass.

“Are you cold, Señorita?” His words, though soft, rang in the still air, skittering through the midst of her frenzied thoughts.

“No, thank you.” Cold? The sun filtered down through the leaves, their resting place sunk in a bowl of golden light.

“Are you certain? You’re trembling. I’ve a cloak, if you need it.”

“No, thank you. What are you doing?” His eyes were lowered to his lap, where he held a scrap of paper and a smudge of charcoal. He smiled and held up the – well, she wouldn’t call it a drawing. She peered at the squiggles; there was something like a half moon, with many shapes on either side that looked like houses.

“It’s something called

“Which text have you chosen?” She tried to make out as much of the tiny illustration as she could without leaning too close.

“None, this time.” He smiled, giving her a sidelong look. “It’s meant to portray the capital, Stam Boul, or Constantinopla.”

. She’d have to return, to rescue them.Catalán like Brother Arcturus, by his accent? His hose were tightly woven, of dark silk; his doublet ragged-edged but clean.He must have been among the crowd on the docks while she’d been talking with Santiago. Her father.nakısh. An illustration for a text,” he explained, returning the drawing to his lap and adding more lines. “An outline, at the moment, as I have no pigments left. I’ve been painting in the Frankish fashion for many years now, but as I am returning to my homeland, I try to remember and relearn the techniques used there.”

“Constantinopla! Are you headed that far?”

“Yes. I’ve heard that a merchant acquaintance of mine may be arriving tomorrow. So I bide my time at Palos, and come out to the river to paint.”

“My parents are headed to Constantinopla, as well. I wish to join them there.”

“Is that so? Then you are leaving because of the Alhambra Decree?”

She hesitated. There were many Christians under the Ottoman Empire, after all. Baha had been kind to her so far, but if he was Genoese or Greek, might he turn her in to the Inquisition? He had not looked up from his work, concentrating on shading in the charcoal with one finger.

“I was,” she said, “but now I’m – I don’t quite know what I am. We left Toledo, my parents and brothers and I, en route to Barcelona. We were meant to take ship from there to Constantinopla. But we’d been on the road only two weeks when I fell. Down a cliff.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but he hadn’t so much as raised an eyebrow.

“Did you hurt yourself?” he asked.

“No, not really. Only bruises.” She rubbed her wrist in memory. “But I fell so far, I couldn’t climb back up. That’s when I met Brother Arcturus, a Cistercian monk. I journeyed here with the monks, before Amiral Colón sailed, because Santiago – a friend of our family – is sailing with the Amiral.”

That made him look up. “Is that so? With Amiral Colón?”

“Yes.” She returned her gaze to the drawing. A caravel had taken shape inside the half moon of a river. “I thought he might help me find a ship to Constantinopla, or at least to Barcelona. I spoke to him at the last, the moment before they sailed.

“What do you mean?” His tone was gentle, as though to indicate that she did not have to answer if she didn’t wish to do so.

He’s my father.”

The words had spilled out before she could stop them, an echo of Santiago’s revelation

yesterday morning. “I’m not sure. He said he was my father, but there was no time for him to explain.”

“Yet you wish to travel to Constantinopla to find your other family?”

“What else can I do?” She’d meant to snap at him, but her voice came out in a whisper.

“I was not criticising, Señorita. I understand that you have no other choice. How will you journey there?”

“I don’t know.”

He’d drawn so much out of her in so short a time, this stranger. Yet it was easy to talk with those dark eyes on her, and the sun heating up the quiet glade. She could rest here for a while, and move on late in the afternoon.

“If we are headed in the same direction, perhaps I might be of help to you.”

“Perhaps. Thank you.” She slid down a little way, leaning back against their tree, watching his thumb rub back and forth as it smoothed out the lines of the drawing, blackened at the tip with charcoal dust.

Out of the Water

by Deniz Bevan

* * *

Next, We Feature Angela Brown, author at Publishness. Angela is offering one lucky reader a Kindle edition of The Clockwork Prince, so be sure to enter you comment to be entered to win. Click the link at the top of the post. It's that easy.

Angela's got a new look at her blog, and it's just fantastic! This up and coming author will wow you with her wit and humor as she blogs her way through the publishing world.

He held up his hands, palms to her. “Are you in trouble?”

She nodded, waving a hand behind her. “My aunts and uncles are trapped at the manor

Product Description

2011 Readers Favorite Book Awards, Silver Realistic Fiction and Finalist Chick Lit
2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist Chick LitTwo distinct voices, two stories interwoven within the walls of family and love.

Abby needs some magic in her life, along with a white knight, respectful children, and an exciting career plan. Instead she is drowning in unfulfilled expectations, disappointments, and unmet needs. What she doesn't expect is to find the true essence of magic in the strength, friendship, power, and energy of the female spirit found in her mother and her mother's zany group of friends. Krista cannot believe it's happening again. Her father waltzes in and announces another move. And what does her mother do? Nothing. Don't they realize she's almost thirteen, and this could mean the end of her life? In the midst of teenage melodrama, she is determined to survive a new school, defeat the annoyances of two scene-stealing sisters, and deal with out-of-touch parents. Yet she quickly realizes the double-edged sword of growing up.

The Author will give away one copy of her book in either an ebook form or a signed paperback. Winner's choice!

Product Description

After losing her best friend in a fire, Rachel Madison rents a cabin on Misty Lake, trying to work through her guilt and sorrow. While there, she meets two men, one good looking and friendly and the other handsome, but scarred. Soon, she realizes that the peace she was trying to find here wasn’t to be, as supernatural events begin to take place. The strange encounters with ghosts at the lake cause Rachel to form a strong bond of friendship with the two men. The three friends move closer and closer to danger as the events unfold to a possible tragic result.

18 December 2011

It's The Next To Last Check-In For This Round....Did you meet your goals for this round? Did you re-adjust as you learned yourself better? What is the accomplishment that brought you the most satisfaction?
Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines.
Brian Tracy

"Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination." Fitzhugh Dodson

My answers are...
A) I did meet my goals for the round! ;}
B) I always re-adjust as I go. I lessened my social networking goal through NaNo. I increased my word count goal. I learned that I can meet a much steeper word count when I need to!
C) Publishing Her Dark Baron is the most satisfying accomplishment of this Round of Words!

* I will take the next two weeks to enjoy my family and celebrate the Messiah's birth! ...okay...a little New Year cheer will be whipped in there, too! Ha! Then, it's back to work. I've got an ending to craft for my next WIP, The Third Fate.

* By January's end, I will enter into edits on The Third Fate, with my goal being to complete edits, beta-reads, and formatting by mid-March. If all goes well, I will publish before the end of March, 2012.

* Shop for cover images. Email my lovely cover designer, Elaina Lee, and allow her to work her magic.

* I must begin outlining my next WIP and creating character profiles. A cast of characters in my current WIP are practically insisting they get their own story....it looks as if I may oblige them. Ha! Alden and Jodhaa need exploring - especially Jodhaa's back story! Of course, Ewan and Eagen, those black-marketing vampires are tempting me...and Brooke and Lara, those human sisters...
Then there's Rowan, a strong female vampire with no love interests - and Elinor, a Council member and powerful, influential, ancient vampire.
Last, but certainly not least, I am wont to delve into Rhys and Enya's story. Hmmm...decisions, decisions, decisions....

Have a great week, everyone! Enjoy your holidays before the next round begins on January 2, 2012. Hope to see you then! ~ Nadja

Product Description

Scottish marauders, incensed at England's King Charles I and emboldened after achieving the upper hand in the Bishop's War of 1640, wreak havoc on the inhabitants of Northumberland, England, and Lady Mariel Hayes finds herself at the mercy of the land hungry Baron Harold Flanders after her father is killed in a border raid. Powerless to save herself from being forced to wed the vile Flanders, Mariel prays for divine intervention. But when her salvation comes, it proves more terrifying than comforting as Mariel learns that by order of the crown, she is to wed the dark and mysterious Baron Gervace Daltry, known far and wide as the Hound of Hell.

Mariel seeks to accept this new life with her dark Baron, a man whose secrets haunt her even as his touch inflames her body. But before her mind can reconcile the sinner she knows him to be with the seductive lover she willingly surrenders to, Mariel must confront the fears that whisper to her, as evidence mounts that her life may soon be forfeit, and decide whether to trust the man she begins to love, or betray the man rumored to be the Devil's instrument of destruction.

Christmas Traditions and Memories...Nadja Notariani

Some of my happiest memories stem from Christmas-time. I come from a large family - I have four brothers and four sisters - so there were few dull moments in our household! Christmas was set aside as special, more-so than the other holidays. It was a time to bake treats to gift neighbors and friends, a time to craft ornaments for the tree, a time for Christmas music blaring from the stereo while we girls strung lights, hung the tinsel, and listened to my dad blare all sorts of profanity whilst attempting to get the train platform set up admist the gaggle of girls surrounding him.

Once the build-up of decorating, baking, cleaning, wrapping, and anticipating was accomplished and Christmas Eve arrived, my family gathered for a sea-food extravaganza that rivaled anything you've ever seen. Smelts, shrimp, clams, sardines, fish-soup, and squid graced plate after plate covering that table. Loud uncles, aunts, and cousins chatted around the table, raced around my grandmother's dining room, and merrily whipped ourselves into a frenzy of Christmas excitement

17 December 2011

On the eighth day of Christmas...Click HERE to post your comment and be entered to win!

Vessel, by J.R. Pearse NelsonBuy Vessel
Visit J.R. Pearse Nelson's blog here! The author will gift one lucky reader a copy of her novella Vessel as well as the first book in the series, Tribute!

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Eddie Drake, notorious agent of the Sidhe Authority, has always been a womanizer. So he’s as surprised as anyone when he can’t get a certain black-haired witch out of his mind. When Alise Rodgers wakes up in Otherworld, a mysterious connection to the place haunts her. And then there’s a more immediate concern – she would never have expected to find Drake sitting vigil for her. While she’s grateful, she’s not at all interested in his bedroom eyes. They’ve always clashed. But they must work together after Alise discovers a rebellious plot brewing among the Sidhe, and puts her life on the line in the bargain.

Vessel is the second novella in the Children of the Sidhe series.

Children of the Sidhe
The Sidhe dwindle. Slow to breed and quick to war, the ages have worn away their numbers. An old enemy threatens Otherworld, fearsome in numbers and in newfound magics. The Sidhe’s unloved part-human children strewn about the mortal world are suddenly their greatest source of hope.

Product Description

The first novella in the Children of the Sidhe series.

Hazel Fintan is the reluctant daughter of the Irish love god, Aengus. As much as she loves the Sidhe lifestyle, with baubles and leisure galore, she’s never cared for her father’s world. So who could expect her to be happy when she’s drawn into a conflict with a legendary race over an impossible tribute?

The tribute may be what brought them together, but Ian MacIlroy knows destiny when it stares him in the face with stunning green eyes and a gorgeous smile. Now he has a new mission. Hazel will be his, at any cost.

It's 1881, the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Chroniker City, the global hub of technological advancement in the modern world. Based off the British coast, the city is home to the most prestigious polytechnic university worldwide, a center of mechanical ingenuity teaching everything from clockwork mechanics and thermodynamics to electromagnetism and electricity.

The author will be giving away a copy (epub) of The Binder's Daughter to one lucky winner!

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They say curiosity killed the cat. In Michael Allen’s case, the saying proved incomplete. All it got him was a vampire bite.

Twenty years later, Michael has crafted a comfortable life for himself in a small town in the Midwest, removed from as many human interactions as possible. He’s even gone so far as to forgo human blood, instead making use of artificial plasma. Unable to forgive himself for inadvertently becoming an agent of death and feeling responsible for the events that led to his father’s demise, Michael is content to just drift through the ages alone.

That is, until he hears the voice:

No!

Just one word. Yet it blossoms in his mind with such heartfelt intensity that he feels compelled to seek out the identity of its owner. In doing so, Michael lets a different cat out of the bag and rediscovers some very human emotions that he thought had died twenty years earlier. Along the way Michael gets caught up in an ancient power struggle involving shapeshifters and samurai. Only by reconciling himself with his past can he salvage a chance at saving the woman he has grown to love and the power she was born to protect.

14 December 2011

On the fifth day of Christmas...Click HERE to post your comment and be entered to win!

Author K.H. LeMoyne has been busy...

This author will be giving away one of each title. All will be in ebook format. The last title, Return of the Legacy will be available as either an ebook or an autographed paperback! Take your pick if you're the lucky winner!
Visit the author's page Fantasy Powered By Love

Product Description

What would you do to save your people from extinction?
What if your race held the key to mankind’s future?
One Guardian will risk hell to change the future.

Descended from a race of Guardians created in the far edges of Eden, Turen’s people have survived the last two hundred years, quarantined by plague to Eden’s Sanctum. Risking death to save his people from eternal damnation, Turen chooses capture at the hands of his enemy to seek answers to change the future. Living in secrecy with no mates and no offspring, they fail to deliver on their covenant for mankind, the ability to replenish and heal human souls through the birth of their Guardian children.

Mia Bowman’s full human lineage decrees her off limits for knowledge of Guardian’s secret race. But her uncontrollable nocturnal visits to Turen’s prison cell and her strong sense of justice leave her with little choice but to help. She can heed Turen’s warning and stay clear of his people’s problems or she can ferret out the lies and unravel an ancient tale of murder and deceit. As the complications escalate, the two forbidden lovers race to stop a fatal end to the Guardian line. But it may require their ultimate sacrifice to stop the betrayal and save the Guardian race.

Product Description

They are the Guardians of Eden—each created with a unique supernatural talent.

Having successfully hidden her abilities from humans for two hundred years, Briet quietly applies the gifts of cellular-level vision to help patients in need. Until she meets her human soul-mate, Jason Ballard.

Jason holds the reigns to the protocol Briet’s patients’ need for recovery. But can she trust a man all too human and grounded in his world to understand hers, much less believe her? When a deadly threat targets her patients, he is the only one she trusts to help stop an evil only the two of them can fight.

Jason has a perfect success rate for delivering of new drugs from test-to-market. Used to influencing people, rules and guidelines delineate every facet of his professional and personal life. The last thing he expects is to be tempted to waiver by the new spitfire doctor on his latest test team. Especially as she starts stirring up issues. Dangerous issues. Issues flagging jeopardy for the lives of the children in the test. Issues the drug manufacturer, his employer, would prefer be ignored. An unacceptable outcome, forcing Jason to walk a dangerous line between job and conscience as he plunges with Briet to ferret out the twisted scheme in time to save her patients.

Escalating to a final life-altering decision, Jason will risk every careful plan he’s ever made for the woman he learns to value more than life. For Jason and Briet, their final gamble will change destiny more than either could ever predict.

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2178A.D. — One hundred and fifty years after genetically enhanced crops and livestock decimate the Earth with a lethal bacterial strain of Salmonella only twenty percent of the world’s population remains. Small pockets of civilization flourish, supported by computerized technologies and vaccinations against the bacteria, the new cities built over the ruins of the previous age. Regents, the owners of the technology, govern the interests of their individual cities—shining examples of progress and advancement. From the ashes of destruction rises the new rule of the Regents, leaders of mankind's new evolution. And a reminder of man's darkest instincts.

CODE NAME: PIPER.
Job: Detention camp extraction squad of one
Analena Maresco’s cyber-enhanced arm gives her an edge, a weapon to rescue children held as organ replacements for the governing Regent’s personal use. Supported by the renegade network and augmented by her unique skills, Analena straddles the line between rebellion and anarchy. To save the children, she risks both. With an extraction too difficult to handle, Piper needs more than remote assistance. She needs the presence of the shadow entity at her back.

CODE NAME: ONYX.
Job: Rogue cyber physician, Exile, Fugitive
Trace Boden, a former Regent surgeon, hides in the city ruins beneath the New Delphi Capital super structure. Providing medical advice, instruction and supplies via the Down Below renegade cyber network, he operates in anonymity, slowly paying back the debt for his part in the Regent’s atrocities. But, Piper’s call is one Trace can’t refuse. Exposed to save a child, he risks everything in a confrontation with Analena Maresco, the woman who can destroy his life forever.

Nowhere to hide, will the secrets Analena and Trace share forge a bond to combat the Regents reign of terror or cripple them both?

Product Description

2180 A.D. – One hundred and fifty years after genetically enhanced crops and livestock decimate the Earth with a lethal bacterial strain of Salmonella only twenty percent of the world’s population remains. Small pockets of civilization flourish, supported by computerized technologies and vaccinations against the bacteria, the new cities built over the ruins of the previous age. Regents, the owners of the technology, govern the interests of their individual cities—shining examples of progress and advancement.

In a race against time, the Down Below underground network plans for the rescue of one of their own from the Regent death squads. The success or failure of their plan hinges on the loyalty of a deadly former Regent guard and one of the most brilliant and dangerous weapon’s designers in New Delphi’s history.

Product Description

Born a magical empath, Logan MacKenzie has spent his life protecting his family from discovery. Evil has found them anyway. What begins as Logan’s search for answers on Earth becomes a race for survival in the magical dimension of Loci.

The battle to save those he cares about will reveal his true lineage—the bloodline of the Makir, one half of a pair of sentinels chosen to guard the mystical portals between dimensions. The price of his acceptance: a love he never imagined possible and a heartbreaking choice.

Her family attacked, her home destroyed, and now stranded on Loci, Briallen of Tir Thar, descendant of a magical race, has only to summon the power within her to return to her own dimension—or so she had hoped. Unfortunately, her powers aren’t cooperating, and the sorcerer bent on her family’s destruction will stop at nothing to possess her.

Raised without knowledge of the portals, the Makir guardians, or her own destiny, Bri takes a leap of faith in an alliance with Logan. Embracing an uncertain power and accepting his goals as hers offers her the only way home. If they fail, the consequences of allowing the portals to fall to evil are unthinkable—the destruction of every magical dimension throughout space.

"Wanna see me eat glass? Parking lot. Two minutes." - guy on the barstool next to me at the TT circa 1997*

*Okay, that quote has nothing to do with The Toilet Business. It also had nothing to do with the conversation I was having with that guy in '97.

*****

Stacey Wallace Benefiel has been a butcher, a baker and would totally entertain the idea of being a candlestick maker.

Over the past eighteen years she’s worked nearly fifty jobs, ninety percent of which were crappy.

From motel housekeeper, to fry cook, to Tower Records salesperson, Stacey has weathered her employment adventures with a smile on her face, uncomfortable shoes on her feet, and a double Jack and Coke in hand.

Her employment history gives new meaning to the phrase retail therapy.

*****
This e-book is intended for readers over 18 due to language and semi-illegal shenanigans.

Reina will gift one lucky winner a little extra Christmas spice with her Smashwords ebook, Open Me.

Product Description

Sabrina and Jonathan are co-owners of a commercial photography studio and they are going through a dry spell - creatively, financially and sexually. When they receive three boxes simply marked Open Me, things start looking up as they start seeing each other for the first time.

*This is a short story - 15 standard pages.

*Warning: Open Me is for ADULTS ONLY due to sexually explicit M/F scenes involving sex toys, Cup-O-Noodle and a really sturdy table.

Reina Stowe crafts Happily Ever After's with a little extra oomph! She lives and goes to grad school in Seattle, WA.

Product Description for Warrior's Rise

For Fae-human half-breed Deva Morgan life as she knows it changes on her thirtieth birthday. One moment she’s a barkeep, the next she is a warrior fated to save Earth from the Dark Lord and his demon horde. Shunned by both her races, she faces a danger-filled quest with few allies. Too bad her powers haven’t fully emerged or stabilized.

For Deva it is life or death, on-the-job training with her companion, Padraig O’Neal, a Fae warrior with a shadowed past. Can he quiet the storm raging inside her, help her harness the growing power within her, and provide a barrier between Deva and a fatal outcome? Will their love be enough to save Deva and stop the Dark Lord’s demons from entering Earth?

Product Description

A fire-breathing dragon, Moira O'Neal, was exchanged at birth for a Fae princess. Discovering the truth, she escapes the cage of the royal court and joins forces with the sexiest wereleopard on Earthworld. She fights the urge to mate and the trap that comes with it as they race against time to find the missing princess and a master of the black arts who covets her power.

Major Steve Taylor, a wereleopard in the Army For Light, partners with the impetuous Moira in the middle a dangerous mission where failure means all their deaths. Worse, his leopard decides Moira is his mate, leaving the man at war with his cat.

Product Description

He did the unforgivable. Druid Lucan Woods killed his surrogate father and best friend for the greater good. Wracked with guilt, he infiltrates a brotherhood of evil, hoping the mission is one way. Absolution may come from a missing Fae Princess, if he will accept it. Or will he reject her love and use her as a pawn in his drive to destroy the leader of the brotherhood?

Fae Princess Alanna has just learned her twin daughters are alive. She leaves hIfreann to search Earth for them. Only she can touch Luc’s heart. But will he let her? Will he open his stained soul and allow her to enter in time to save them both?

Product Description

A con game from the past and a gamble on love in the future hold the key for world order in a cybernetic age.

Trapped in a cave-in with two women in 1875, Max Turner awakens to a sterile cryo lab in 2484. If he thought he could play it straight, he has another think coming. Only the heads of the few ruling families stay un-cyber-chipped and alive. His one chance of success rests in passing-off his cave-in partner, Maddy Doyle, as his dead fiancée, Madeline Riley, ancestor to the privileged Riley Family—the same family that blew the mine.

Assisted by a renegade scientist, a rebellious cyborg, and his newfound wife, Max lays out his plans. His greatest asset is Maddie, a beauty with a calculating mind to match his own and startling new cybernetic skills. Can the lovers process their con game fast enough to survive the Riley Family’s attempts on their lives?

I'll be giving away a free copy of Compis via Smashwords. Winners can email me at katecauthor@gmail.com for the coupon code.

Product Description

After thousands of years, male after
male, finally --a female COMPIS is chosen. The peace of a nation
seems secure, yet beneath the facade turmoil boils among its leaders.
The innocent children, raised in ignorance all their lives until the
Initiation of their seventeenth year, have no idea of the true face
behind their High Council.

Why has a girl been chosen? Why is she
special? Will she be able to do what no other Compis has done and
bring the hypocrisy to an end?

Welcome to the 12 Days Of Christmas Reading....Where we will be giving away over 21 books in the next 12 days!

Christmas is a time for giving, and if you've got an avid reader on your list, you're in the right place! J.R. and I are featuring authors from a wide range of genres over the next 12 Days to help you find just the book you're looking for! (And maybe you'll even win a free book!)

Here are our featured authors and their 2011 releases. Click HERE to see a complete listing with product descriptions for any book that catches your interest and for purchase links and some great posts on Christmas traditions and memories from our featured authors! Stop back each day to see each author's featured day - or simply click the link above to see all the authors and their books at once!

Leave us a comment with your favorite Christmas/Holiday song and be entered for a chance to win one of the great books on our list. There will be at least one book given away each day, with a giveaway bonanza on the final day, 22 December. **Winners will be notified by email, so don't forget to leave yours after your comment!

07 December 2011

Is there anything more exciting, revolting, splendiferous (yep, made that up just now...), nerve-wrenching, or fantastic than finding out you'll be/have been reviewed? Well, in the writing world, anyway.... Ha!

Yesterday, I released my second book, a novella. Her Dark Baron is now for sale! Terrific, right? Right. Ahem. I'm over the moon!

I am an indie-author, and to get the word out about my newest little egg, I need people to talk about it. Reviews are the best way for the word to spread. So, I gave a little hint, hint when I posted my 'Woo-Hoo' about its release. Now, I wait, anxiously hoping that readers will take the time to offer a review.

I find it a bit disconcerting, asking for reviews, that is. What is the proper etiquette in this situation? I didn't approach anyone directly, but I did offer a wee hint of a reminder. I'm fairly new to this game, and I've no desire to appear pushy, or gasp, tacky. Ha! (I have been known in the past to dig my foot from my throat with blushes galore...and I've no wish to repeat the odious task...)

I asked for readers to consider taking the time to offer an honest review. Gulp. Yep! I added that extra word in there. Honest. Now I'm remembering those old sayings my dad was always touting ~ 'Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.' ~ 'Everyone's a critic.' ~ 'One man's nightmare is another man's dream.' ~ 'Love me. Hate me. As long as you're talking about me.' ~ 'Opinions are like...' heh-heh...I won't add that one in.

My dad had a bit of dark humor.... Come to think of it....why didn't he ever have those encouraging, inspirational, fluffy or fru-fru-ey (made that one up, too!) sort of sayings that all the other parents were saying? My dad offered you bits of wisdom like, 'Well... when you're dumb, you suffer,' and the ever-so-favorite-amongst-my-siblings-and-me, 'What are you, some kind of as*$#le?' Hmm. Guess it gave me thick skin, a non-victim attitude, and thankfully, the kind of chin that can take a shot! (Now don't get too upset for us poor kids...we were the sort who absolutely could not settle ourselves without a strong hand. We needed a dad who could handle us firmly with no nonsense. We sure did give that man a run for his money!) So...thanks, Dad. Jiminy Christmas!...never thought I'd hear myself saying thanks for those little pearls...

How do you - or do you at all - hint that reviews would be ever-so-helpful?

I'm also over at Maria Zaninni's blog today as part of her Do It Yourself Christmas Promotion! Stop by for a tasty treat ..and to enter for a chance to win my new release!

06 December 2011

Thank you to everyone! You've all been so supportive and encouraging during the writing, the typing, and the editing of this story. I'm so excited to finally see it up for sale! And don't forget... as an independent author, word of mouth is paramount to getting my name/books into the hands of readers. If you read, please offer an honest review on Amazon, at Smashwords, or at Goodreads! This author would be most appreciative!

I'm off to celebrate...well, just a bit. I've got a Christmas promotion post to write, some great authors to add to the ever growing 12 Days Of Christmas Reading, an Insecure Writers post and a ROW80 post to ready for tomorrow, and a guest post to write for Sommer Leigh's blog! There is truly no rest for the wicked, eh? Ha!

Nadja Notariani: An Author's Adventures

About Me

Welcome to Nadja Notariani, An Author's Adventures. From an early age, stories filled with adventure and romance captivated my imagination. Now I have become the storyteller, and I invite you to share with me the adventures (and the struggles) in writing.